Investing in your team’s long-term growth may not be a budget buster, but it does take your time and attention. Skimping here could lead to a full-out budgetary impact later. Is it worth it?
Lessons on leadership are all around us. You know I saw Moneyball earlier this year. And there have been dozens of movies and books written on the topic. But, there was a recent article I read that ignited this blog. It’s about how Andy Bernard, a fictional character...
With the creative job market opening up and graduates entering the workforce, I thought I would spend a little time talking about a variety of steps you can take to land a job at a creative agency or as an in-house creative professional. The advice below is peppered with my own experience, as well as input from a variety of agencies, including AKQA, JESS3, Code & Theory, and Mekanism.
First and foremost, team leaders must stick up for what their teams do. Marketing, creative staff, and designers seem to get the short stick of the deal more often than not. I am unsure what people think we do all day. Color in coloring books?
Let’s face it, creative people like to brainstorm. We are idea generators and dream makers. We love to think outside the box, color outside the lines, and call our own shots.
So when I attended a brainstorming session in January with a room full of linear thinkers, it got me thinking about certain techniques people use during brainstorming session. One in particular came to mind—D.U.C.K.—Don’t Use Creativity Killers.
I work in the financial services industry. I must say, as a marketing pro with a serious creative bent, financial services is not as sexy as some other industries to work in.
As 2010 comes to a close and we reflect upon what took place not only in this year, but also throughout the decade, I must say, I never thought I’d actually come to hear or read, in this case, the following:
“According to a recent survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify “creativity” as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future,” from Nicole Skibola’s blog “The Social Responsibility to Generate Employee Happiness.”
The other day I was reading an article from Inc. magazine about how to hire for creativity. Now this is a no-brainer for those of us in the field. Am I right Maybe. Maybe not.
My office location recently changed and we relocated to a shared-office space. Prior to the move, my supervisor asked the senior marketing team to join her for a meeting. During our meeting, we talked about the new/revised dress code for our staff. Once finished, we were to share the information with our teams.
A few months ago I was reading an article about companies not being a democracy. The author is a self-proclaimed “turnaround ace,” who offers solid advice to employees about how employers “see” them. After reading his article I’m not surprised he feels the way he does about leadership. “The most effective leaders are benevolent dictators who hold employees accountable,” he writes.
ecently I was reading an article Ideacide (14 Ways to Kill Creativity) and thought, now this could lead to something good. But, let’s spin the concept a bit to see how we can overcome the death threats to creativity. In the article, Youngme Moon, author of Different: Escaping the Competitive Heard, shared thoughts from her video, “My Anti-Creativity Checklist,” on how to stifle creativity.
As you consider your career and all that you want or need to accomplish, you may want to consider using this approach to make your dreams a reality. Even though the majority of us in the creative fields are visual learners and have limited difficulty visualizing creative concepts, at times we can get bogged down when it comes to our future.
The past few weeks, I have been traveling through Yellowstone National Park. If you have ever been, you know how majestic the scenery is. How magnificent the animal sightings can be. And, how amazingly breathtaking the sky, mountains, and clouds appear. All of those things really get the creative juices flowing.
March has certainly come in like a lion for me. I live in the northeast, specifically northern New Jersey. And this month we’ve seen our fair share of Mother Nature’s wrath. The first weekend of the month, we lost power for two days due to heavy snowfall. The second weekend of the month, we lost power for four days due to the “storm with no name,” or the “daylight savings time storm,” a.k.a. low-level hurricane. Whatever you want to call it; it was pretty devastating.
Moody March is finally over—thank goodness! And following in the footsteps of the American tradition, it’s time for a bit of spring cleaning wouldn’t you say?
As the first quarter of the new decade comes to a close, I have seen a couple articles about innovation lately, particularly about Google and how its “angle’s” spread their wings. In the March 8 edition of “Business Week,” Spencer Ante and Kimberly Weisul wrote about how Google’s past employees have networked and invested in 200 fledging companies since 2005. They like to swap investment ideas and back startups together. They have taken an opportunity, put it through the innovation machine and come out on top with a new and improved model, shaping the wave of innovation. Why not do the same thing in your organization and your life in 2010? Read more about tips on how you, as creative professionals, might consider bringing innovation into the workplace.
You’ve heard it a million times…okay, maybe dozens of times. You have to get out there and network to make an impact on finding a job. The old way of searching for jobs is so passé. It’s just not effective any longer to have your resume on job boards, to set up search engine bots, and to keep replying to online postings. You have to put it all out there folks. Get out and talk to people. I know…it’s a pretty scary thing for the average person. But, for an introvert, multiply that times ten.
Developing a personal brand helps you differentiate yourself from your peers and, in some cases, your competition to “claim” your job.
Personal brands should not be thought of only when begin looking for a job or something you develop at 2:00 a.m. when you’re scared you’re going to lose your job. It takes some serious thought and brainstorming to come up with your unique value proposition and differentiator.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a recent graduate, there will be times in your professional life you’ll ask yourself if you should work in an agency, as part of an in-house creative team, or as a freelancer.
Read this article by Becky Livingston discussing some pros and cons about each that might help you make that decision, no matter what stage of your career you might be at.
There are times when work is just a four letter word. I’m sure you’ll agree, there are those moments when being effective and productive is more painful than stubbing your toe on the bed post.
However, what’s really challenging is being a creative professional working in a non-creative industry for non-creative decision-makers. How do you do it? Well, that’s part of the charm of being a creative person. You have the skill set to adapt to any situation. You are a knowledge worker – aka super hero.
This month’s article focuses on how you can help those who don’t do your day-to-day work to understand what you do and how you can positively impact the bottom line through decisions made by others.
As creative professionals, we are somewhat like felines in that we tolerate and share our existence with those less glamorous than ourselves. I’m kidding of course.
When it comes to resumes for creative professionals, presentation is paramount. But what do you do to fit your brilliantly-designed resume into an online job board format? What keywords should you include in your resume to make sure it gets into the hands of those you need to impress?
According to Adrienne Burke, General Manager at Artisan, who has placed creative talent for the past five years, “A beautiful, well-written resume is a must if you want to stand out as a creative professional. Cutesy graphics, unclear illustrations, cartoonish fonts, lots of colors, and slanted type are all signs of an overdesigned resume—definite resume don’ts.”
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